Brilliant article from Jamey Boiter on Fast Company on the mess that BP is in with it's brand image and the recent oil spill in the Gulf near the south coast of the USA.
"Yet BP forgot a very basic principle of brand repositioning, building and marketing: Deliver on the promise of the brand. You can create anything, but it's only when a company embraces the pillars, the tenants of the brand, that this becomes reality. Pretty logos mean nothing if your actions don’t back up what you say. As Gardiner Morse pointed out earlier this week for the Harvard Business Review, BP forgot to "walk the talk".
The Church and Christianity at times suffers the same "image problem".
Many Christians don't deliver on the "brand promise" of Jesus in their lives. They only embrace the pillars and the tenants of being a follower of Christ. Rather than backing up what they believe with our actions. They aren't walking the talk. (When I say they, I definately include myself in that.)
Sure, churches may have the slickest websites, the coolest logo, iPhone/iPad church App, the most famous/most eloquent speaking Pastor, but if we as Christians don't deliver on the brand promise of Jesus, if we can't tell our story through the transformed lives of our people, of ourselves, then the promises are just hollow and empty.
Not even a complete advertising and brand makeover of Christianity by Australian ad agencies could solve this problem a like this.
What do you think Jesus promised? What picture did he create of what a disciple would look and act like?
What do you think people are expecting to see in people who go to church?
Is there a gap?
Do they like Jesus, but not the church? Or is that they think we Christians have infact become unchristian?
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How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 3
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